Going into the 2025 college football season, there was a group of quarterbacks who were the clear favorites to be the top quarterbacks off the board in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft. Through four weeks, most of these quarterbacks have far underplayed expectations, which has opened the door for some other young quarterbacks to join the conversation.
While Clemson’s Cade Klubnik has played himself out of our Top 50 prospects and Penn State Drew Allar has been slow getting out of the gate, Oklahoma’s John Mateer and Oregon’s Dante Moore have stepped up and are now mentioned as potential first-round picks.
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Mateer came to Oklahoma from Washington State and has proven that in the right system, he can dominate opposing defenses with his arm and his leg. As for Moore, despite being just a redshirt sophomore, he has shown a ton of growth and poise upon arriving at Oregon. He’s clearly worked on making the short and intermediate throws to go with his deep accuracy. The question with both of them is more directely related to their success within somewhat novel college offenses that might not translate as well to the NFL.
We should also give honorable mention to Miami’s Carson Beck who is making the most of his oppotunities at his new home as well. We already considered Beck a fringe first-round pick so he isn’t quite the surprise of Mateer and Moore but if the rest of the quarterback class improves, this class could end up having seven quarterbacks go in the first two rounds.
Here are our current quarterback rankings a month into the season:
1 – LaNorris Sellers – South Carolina
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2 – Fernando Mendoza – Indiana
3 – John Mateer – Oklahoma
4 – Garrett Nussmeier – LSU
5 – Dante Moore – Oregon
6 – Carson Beck – Miami
7 – Drew Allar – Penn State
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: 2026 NFL draft: John Mateer and Dante Moore outclassing top QBs this season